KCC v E&WH

When we arrived at the Brake today, the wicket was greener than the outfield. I’m lead to believe that means the ball will swing. However, having won the toss, captain Clarke chose to bat first with the weather nice and sunny to start. Out went Nick Jeacock and Josh Behal to open for Kidlington. The pair ran well and got us off to a solid start, with extras a consistent factor in keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Kiddy. Nick was dismissed for 6 and we turned to John Moss, the chairman didn’t last long, nor did his successor Sam Kimber, who was unlucky to be caught out. The veteran Gary Woods was next up, a reliable pair of hands with the bat, he made a good score in the 20s before being dismissed for lbw. Meanwhile Joshy Behal was quietly chipping away, and slowly but surely picking up runs. David McKenzie’s excitable batting proved a useful contribution at number 6, smacking the ball to the leg-side time and time again, and enduring some very unpredictable bowling. Unfortunately this unpredictability proved his downfall, as he unluckily dragged on to the stumps and was dismissed for 11. On came Jonah Clarke, who Ajay had kindly insisted should bat higher up the order, following his batting performances of late. After hitting a four off the first ball, Jonah established a textbook batting partnership with young Josh, who was still at the crease after 30 overs and was looking impregnable. Clarke, Behal and Extras started going through the gears and kept the scoreboard ticking over remarkably. The chemistry between the two batsmen was clear as they ran singles for fun, in fact, in two consecutive overs, the pair ran 11 singles out of 12 balls. One of the highlights was certainly when Jonah edged the ball for a quick single, but as the Hendred fielder launched the ball in, it hit the wickets directly and cannoned off in the opposite direction, and the two batsmen telepathically and very cheekily were able to run a second time. I cannot praise Josh enough for his continual running, throughout the entire 45 overs, he did remarkably well for a little guy to keep up with all his partners who were much fresher and faster than him, but Josh was relentless in his running. This work ethic duly brought up his 50 and capped off a perfect opening batsman performance, hats off. With a small handful of overs remaining, Jonah and Josh blocked and ran as they had been all game and eventually both ended unbeaten, with Josh on 59 and Jonah on 38. This is by far the most players Kidlington have had with a “Did not bat” next to their name and was thus a hugely impressive batting performance from the team, ending on 173 for 5 wickets.

A big thank you to my Mum and Dad and girlfriend who prepared and helped set up the tea and drinks, it was much appreciated by both teams, home and away and it made the day thoroughly more enjoyable.

As East and West Hendred openers Clewley and McKenna took to the crease, the clouds started to loom ominously on the horizon, not a good sign. Aman Kalyan opened from the clubhouse end and bowled some great balls, showing great character after a barren few weeks with the ball, he earned his full spell this time, picking up his first wicket in over 3 games, for LBW, a thoroughly deserved reward. Clarke cruelly forced Josh Behal to open the bowling having just batted the full 45. Despite almost collapsing with exhaustion a few times, he delivered ball after ball with potent accuracy and was just altogether superb, capping off four solid overs, he pleaded with the captain for mercy as he was simply knackered. Fair enough, after a huge shift, he was taken off and Baiju Saleem took over at his end. It became clear that as the weather continued to deteriorate, Baiju’s slow but always consistent bowling would be very dangerous in the conditions, with the batsmen looking shaky at the hands of the mighty Saleem. For the change at the clubhouse end, Clarke brought on debutant Mohsen Elabbadi, whose similarly slow, loopy bowling seemed to baffle the batsmen. After a wild first over, the captain showed faith in him, and his bowling would eventually yield 3 wickets, all of similar nature: his loopy bowling would tempt the batsmen into dancing up the track to hit, but late movement and unpredictable bounces often alluded the bat, and they swung and missed, and Clarke behind the stumps promptly gobbled up 3 batsmen in like fashion, with 3 stumpings off 3 Elabbadi overs (one of them was nicked though and was therefore a catch but was stumped for good measure anyway.) It was at that point that the umpires had had enough, with the scoreboard showing 80 runs after 21 overs, Kidlington were ever so slightly on top, an unfamiliar position, we stuck the covers on and went inside. With both teams keen to go back out after about 45 minutes the umpires said “alright fine” and we went back out there. The mud was really gathering up on the pitch and there was a massive pile of mud behind both sets of stumps. Hendred batsmen Cooke proved just how treacherous the conditions were becoming as he swung for a ball and sent his bat flying towards the non-striking batsmen. Unfortunately for Kidlington, it turned out he could handle a bat much better than this mishap would suggest, as he and fellow bat, Dickinson promptly gobbled up the new target with considerable ease, with Ajay bowling a good couple of overs in there with one wicket for the elder Behal. So today in the inter-Behal competition, Ajay took the bowling trophy where Josh undoubtedly took the batting kudos. The pair are a real blessing to the team, and have inspired my dad to play next season, with the prospect of playing alongside his family too. In the end Hendred made 154 runs for 5 wickets but due to the rain, their target was reduced and they reached it without breaking a sweat.

Unlucky to lose in such anticlimactic fashion in the end, but it can’t have been easy batting in those conditions for Hendred. Our best batting performance as a team of the season to date, Josh Behal was by far the man of the match, and the future looks bright for Kidlington Cricket Club.